For years, the LGBTQ crowd pushed for recognition. Recognition granted, now they want acceptance. Acceptance is granted and now the push is for control. Here is what control looks like. “Come to my Pride parade, but beware if you host a parade celebrating traditional marriage or birth gender.” “If I oppose you, that means you are wrong. If you oppose me, that means I have the right to cancel you.”
Hear this, there is danger in celebrating what is biblically wrong. There is risk involved in twisting time tested morals. And make no mistake, there is a threat woven into any attempt to redefine virtue.
This is nothing new. Sexual perversion has been apart of the scene from time immemorial. God spent a whole chapter in Leviticus outlining specific sexual sins that were destructive to the family and community fabric. Every other culture in the land celebrated these perversions, but not Israel. Israel was set apart from the beginning as God’s culture; God’s people to be a model for the other nations to see God’s character and heart.
Now hear this, the national boundaries have changed, but the rules are still the same. When the Spirit of God came to live among us, the Kingdom of God was established as the Church—the people of God across all national, racial, social, linguistic and geographic lines. The people of God were no longer marked by their practice of the Law but by the Spirit of God who lived in their hearts. Ever since then, there has never been a nation on earth that could claim to be the Kingdom. Only the Church bears that distinction. Why does this matter? In no way do I expect any nation, including ours, to follow God’s moral law. I fully expect sexual perversion to continue and get much worse, at the hands of those who do not know God. BUT, I also fully expect and beg the Church of Jesus to guard the boundaries God has established for us. We are the moral compass for any nation that houses us. We are the voice of virtue for those who celebrate vice. We walk in the Light and that means we should not be stumbling around like we are in the dark.
What am I saying? It doesn’t surprise me at all that a PRIDE parade is being planned for Magnolia in September. We don’t hate those involved or shout at those who march in it. But Christians had better speak the truth around it. Gender fluidity and the confusion of roles is not something we celebrate, honor or teach. The reporters of the LGBTQ movement have done an excellent job of arguing their positions. Our children are very well aware of their position. We must be equally clear about the biblical position; equally adamant about biblical sexuality. If we are confused, timid, mute or blurring the lines here, our children will go with the clearly articulated model.
The Church is not PROUD of the perversion of God’s design. We will not celebrate it and we will not give it equal time. We will absolutely love those who have bought into this model, but we say from the beginning that God is the One who defines Love and no one else. It’s not a game. It’s not based on your feelings. It is not something that morphs over time to fit the cultural norm. Biblical love is never out of style or old fashioned. Most of you reading this are the products of two people who loved each other and loved you. Some of you reading this witnessed these two you called parents love God first, themselves second and you third. You watched God honor them as they kept His boundaries and taught you to do the same. This is not just another point of view. This truth has been the bedrock of sexuality since the first baby was born. It will not change now.
Husbands, love your wives as you love yourselves. Lay down your petty pride and selfish pursuits and love your wife like Jesus loves the Church. Wives, respect your husbands as the leader and lover that God has given you. Put away jealousy, envy and bitterness. Follow him and love him as Jesus loves you. Dads and moms, love your children. Pray for them, teach them the Word and model faithfulness for them. Determine to not let the culture raise your kids. Defend love!
PRIDE parades celebrate the undoing of everything that brought you into the world. Christians must begin to openly celebrate the building up and continuation of God’s beautiful design of man and woman, marriage and child bearing. And we must do it now.